Conventionally, many different types of tools are used when drilling for oil and gas and, conventionally, such tools are connected together into a string of tubulars and run into the wellbore. There are several different stages when creating a wellbore ready to produce oil and gas such as drilling, casing, cementing and completing the wellbore. Each stage requires a different set of tools and processes.
For example, completing the wellbore normally occurs toward the end of the process of creating an oil and gas production well. In many such wells there is a requirement for example to prevent sand being produced along with the oil or gas from the production zone and this is normally achieved by using sand screens which are placed in the production zone of the wellbore and act very much like sieves, in that they allow the oil or gas to pass through their side walls but prevent the sand from passing through their side walls by utilizing a mesh which is sufficiently sized such that its apertures are smaller than the grains of sand. It is important however to anchor the sand screens in the wellbore and this is conventionally achieved by using a mechanically set or hydraulically set slips anchor or a hanger which can be actuated to move a set of anchoring slips outwards to grip into or bite into the open hole formation and thus can be used to transfer load from the anchor and any other tools connected to the anchor such as sand screens, etc. into the formation. Conventionally, a mechanically set slip anchor comprises a set of slips that sit in a wedge shaped recess and which, when pushed axially, will be also forced radially outwardly. However, such conventionally mechanical slips suffer from the disadvantage that they are somewhat limited to the extent that they can extend radially outwardly.